Dressing Down
by hovet-otach
Summary: Short fluffy-ness. Caskett
1. Chapter 1

"Do-wah-diddy-diddy-dum-diddy-do!" Kate Beckett sang and she danced around her kitchen, cooking up the last packet of pancake mix while the record player belted out her all-time favorite song. "We walked on to my door, then we kissed a lil' more!"

Kate burnt her fingers on the edge of the pan when a sharp knock on the front door startled her out of her daze causing her to jump. She hurried over to the entrance, sucking on her finger to try and ease the pain. Not bothering to check the peep-hole the frustrated detective swung the door open to reveal a slightly exasperated Castle.

He took in her appearance slowly. The first things he noticed were her shoes. Her usual stilettos were replaced with a raggy pair of ugg boots. Going up he noticed her baggy track pants (or tracky-dacks as Alexis calls them) that were stung low on her thin hips, the giant BONDS band of her underwear sticking out the top. His eyes trained on the sliver of skin that could be seen between her tank top and pants before gradually moving up to her face. The last thing he noticed was her thumb, planted firmly in her mouth.

"Sucking your thumb is a bad habit," he commented light-heartedly as he walked past her into the open living-room.

"I burnt it," Kate defended with a small pout.

"Run it under cold water, not your tongue."

Kate just raised her eyebrow, her cursed mind finding the probably accidental innuendo in the sentence.

"Ew," Castle said simply, going over to the stove to flip the pancake before it burnt.

"So, what're you doing here?" she asked, gently bumping him out of the way with her hip.

Castle just looked at her like she'd grown two heads. "Do you know what today is?"

"Ah, no?" she asked, thoroughly confused.

"Today, my dear detective, would be the six hour long…wait for it!... Cop drama marathon!"

Beckett groaned in an unlady-like fashion. "Do I have to?" she whined, resembling a small, defiant toddler.

"Yes, darling," Rick led the annoyed woman over to the couch and plonked her down on it. "I bought popcorn. "

Kate simply laughed at his attitude. Deep down, she really did love a good cop drama. And six hours of them, on her couch, with the most gorgeous man to ever grace the earth? Perfection.


	2. Chapter 2

Beckett yawned quietly, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth. But instead of dropping her hand back down to her lap she left it there, her thumb sliding over her front teeth.

"Stop sucking your thumb," Castle called her out.

_He's spent the last hour and a half with his eye glued to the screen and the one time, ONE TIME, he looks up he catches me with my thumb in my mouth! _Kate thought, glaring back at him. "I don't suck my thumb."

"Well, your finger is in your mouth and you're sucking on it," Castle's smart ass mode was fully functioning. "So, yeah, I'd say you're sucking your thumb."

"I burnt it," she told him again. "And it hurts."

She didn't know she was pouting until Castle reached over and grabbed her lower lip between his thumb and index finger. "You, my sweetie, suck your thumb," he said defiantly, releasing her lip which she immediately pulled between her teeth. This didn't go unnoticed by the writer. "And you suck your lip." And with a wink and a sly smile he continued, "Care to suck anything else?"

Kate quickly moved from one end of the couch to the other, her hands now resting on each side of Castle's waist, a plan in her head. "Whoa!" Rick held his hands beside his broad shoulders in an I'm-not-doing-anything motion. With a sly smile Kate reached behind him and picked up something off the side table next to the arm rest. And just as quickly as the first time she moved back to her end of the couch and popped the small, now unwrapped piece of candy into her mouth.

"Just finding something to suck on," she explained with a cheeky grin, full of false innocence.

"Go back to sucking your thumb," Rick grumbled turning back to the TV.


	3. Chapter 3

"Your foot in on my half of the couch," Kate whined, nudging Rick's freezing feet back towards him. In response he just smiled and put _both_ on his feet mere centimeters over the center line of the sofa. "Don't!" she extended the word like an annoying ten year old, feebly pushing them away.

"They're not touching you," Rick said defiantly, a stubborn smile plastered on his face.

"But…but!" she tried to find the words without just whining. "They're _near_ me!" He merely inched them closer, enjoying watching her squirm. Retreating back into the corner of the couch, she pulled her knees up to her chest, another feeble attempt to get away.

A childlike smile spread across Rick's face and he slowly slid his feet along the couch until his toe was almost touching hers. He cut her off just as Beckett opened her mouth, "They are _not _touching you."

"Touch of death!" Kate exclaimed as she quickly licked her finger and held it next to his foot. But the triumphant look soon left her face as she realized he wasn't going to move. "Damn," she plonked her hand back on top of her knee. "That works on my five year old neighbor," she said with a cheeky grin.

Shaking his head, Rick glared at her. "Just for that," before the detective had a chance to react, Rick's foot was on top of hers, the cold seeping through her thin socks, and he had leaped out of his seat. His hands easily found her waist and he tickled her profusely, her screams for mercy going to waste.

"Stop!" she squeal, kicking her legs and flailing her arms. Although it didn't do much good as the giggles rendered any protest useless. When he finally retreated, Kate fell onto the couch cushion with a heavy sigh and a glare. But none the less, she lifted her feet from the ground and placed them lightly on Rick's lap.

"Your feet are _on_ me!" he whined, exactly like she had before.

"Suck it up, princess."

"I think you're the one who's sucking it up, princess," Rick commented when he noticed her thumb had made its merry ol' way back into her mouth.

"I don't suck my thumb!" Kate defended, though she didn't take it out even to talk. "It's bu-"

"I know, I know. It's burnt." Rick leaned over to stroke her hair mockingly. "Don't worry; I won't tell anyone."


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N. Sorry I haven't updated in a while the assignments and stuff are getting in the way. Anyway here it goes. And props to my friend, Ricky, for the last piece of dialogue which I stole out of our Facebook conversation. **_

"Beckett?" Castle called, tapping her legs (that still rested atop his) lightly, trying to wake her. "Hey, Sleeping Beauty?"

"What?" she mumbled unintelligibly, not even opening her eyes.

"Do you wanna go to bed?" Rick asks softly, slipping out from under her slender legs. At her soft nod, he held out his hands to help her up. Then he waited…and waited. "Kate?" When he got silence in return he did the only thing he knew how to. He lent down and softly picked her up, bridal style. "Don't hurt me!" he prayed quietly as he waited for the detective to suddenly awake from her slumber and beat the crap out of him. But when it didn't come, he decided it would be safe to look down at her. Instead of a murderous glare, he was met with a peaceful and sleeping face. _Thank the Lord,_ Rick thought.

He slowly made his way through her small apartment, dodging the basket of unfolded laundry situated in the hall. "Good night, princess," Rick whispered, gently laying her under the thick, white comforter. His smile widened as he watched Kate slowly bring her thumb up to her mouth but stopped as it rested on her lip, opening one eye to see if he was looking. Rick quickly turned to face the open window, pretending he wasn't staring. "You're one of a kind," he mumbled quietly as he turned and pulled the blanket up to her chin, "just like the moon."

"But, sweetie," Kate mumbled around her thumb, still half asleep, "Jupiter has twenty-three moons."

Rick turned to leave the room, looking back over his shoulder one last time. He gazed upon her beautiful face and answered, even though he knew she wouldn't hear, "But none as pretty as ours."


End file.
